Importance Of IT Ethics For IT Professionals And Society

Discussion

Discuss about the IT Professional and Society for Group or Culture.

Ethics are the certain and specific rules and regulations of conduct that are recognized and identified with respect to a specific class of human activities or a specific group or culture (Frederickson and Rohr 2015). I have learnt from the presentations and tutorials that ethics are the right and the correct thing to be done by social system. We often face several societal or peer disapproval while following ethical ways. However, morals are certain habits or principles with respect to the correct or wrong conducts (Dolgoff, Harrington and Loewenberg 2012). According to Professor Kimberly Blackerby, morals can be defined as the procedure of the working of moral with respect to an individual’s principles and ideals. When a person is involved in wrong deeds, I can clearly say that he is morally wrong. From the presentation on information technology ethics and morals, I have learnt the information technology professionals or the IT professionals should be ethically and morally correct in their work place, so that they do not take any wrong route for their success in the organization.

The following report outlines the basic concept of ethics and morality, especially in the sector of information technology. I have understood clearly that IT ethics is extremely important for the IT sector. The report that I have provided is a reflection of the presentations of Professor Kimberly Blackerby (Frankfurt 2013).  The report given by me understand the social impact of information technology and the social responsibility of IT  professionals, critically review the IT profession’s Codes of Ethics and Codes of Conduct, and develop a personal ethical framework, and to understand the role of the IT professional and the legal and moral responsibility they have to that profession and society.

The word Ethics is derived from a Greek word “ethos”. The word ethos has the meaning of habit, custom and the distinct way of living (Eshleman 2014). In simple words, ethics can be defined as the practice or the discipline to apply value to the behavior of human beings. This results into reasonable conduct. It is a specific branch of ethics, which deals with the relation between the organization and utilization of information with various moral codes and ethical standards. I have learnt from the tutorials and the presentations that IT ethics or information technology ethics can be defined as the application of the four classical principles of ethics for the utilization of the computer technology (Otim et al., 2012). There are several ethical problems that are related to IT. The first problem is the privacy. I have understood that this privacy problem occurs whenever there is lack of security. Moreover, I have also known that other IT related problem include the physical addresses and the properties of IP (Venkatesh, Thong and Xu 2012). The illegal access to the computers, the interference of the systems without the permission of the user, misuse of the devices and electrical fraud are also considered as ethical problems in information technology sector.

IT Ethics

I have learnt from my tutorials and presentations that ethical responsibilities are the certain duties that an individual should follow in his/her life. He/she should be on the correct path for achieving their goals and objectives in life (Bošnjak and Maruši? 2012). Moreover, he has various responsibilities towards his family, friends and acquaintances. These social responsibilities should also be ethical and are also claimed as ethical responsibilities. From the tutorials and presentations, I got to know that the ethical responsibilities can be at various levels like the professional level, work level and business level. An individual should be ethically and morally correct while performing all the ethical and moral responsibilities at these several levels. Again the ethical responsibilities are also dependent on the codes of ethics and codes of conduct in several organizations (Maryniak 2012). These ethical conducts help in understanding the behavior and character of an employee. I have known that there are various questions that are related to ethics in an organization. These questions include time and money managers usually spend on the privacy sector for the protection of their personal data and information, and the portion of the knowledge of information technology that is belonging to the organization and the knowledge of the information technology that is related to an employee (Smythe 2012). The other ethical questions include whether the system owner is reliable for the security or not and the bulk amount of information that is to be collected.

I have known that codes of conduct are set of certain rules that outline the social and economic standards, regulations, practices and responsibilities that help in conducting all types of ethical tasks and activities. When an individual follows the codes of conduct, he or she is ethically or morally correct in his terms and life (BEEmsTERBoER 2016). Even these codes of conduct are followed in the organizations by all the employees or are expected to follow in the organizations. There are several and various common traits with these codes of conduct. These are as follows:

1. i) Integrity: My professor helped me to understand that integrity is the most important feature in the codes of conduct.
2. ii) Ethical Principles: The ethical principles are those principles that are followed by any individual for staying on the ethical path.

            iii) Values: Values are another common trait with codes of conducts. The values of an individual should be correct.

1. iv) Professional Behavior: A person should be ethical in his professional field and this is another common trait with the codes of conduct (Speight 2016).
2. v) Responsibilities of Individual/Company: I have also learnt that the responsibilities of an individual or the company should be ethical.

From the presentations and tutorials, I understood and identified the stakeholders of an organization. In an IT organization, the stakeholder is a person impacted by the work or project of information technology (Maryniak 2012). The various stakeholders of a company are as follows:

1. i) Clients: The clients or the customers are the most important stakeholders of an organization as they are responsible for the overall positive impact on the organization.
2. ii) Managers, Directors, Senior Level Staff: These are the top level management of an organization and the all the important decisions are taken by these people.

Ethical Responsibilities

            iii) Employees or Contractors: The employees or the contractors are responsible for the overall growth and dev elopement of the organization.

1. iv) Communities: The communities again have an extremely strong impact on any organization.
2. v) Stockholders, Investors: The investors invest their money in the business and thus they are responsible for the profit or loss of the organization.
3. vi) Competitors: I have learnt that the competitors of an organization help to work more actively in the market and make their positions (Bošnjak and Maruši? 2012). Therefore, they have an extremely strong impact on the organization.

Software Companies: The software companies again have a strong impact on the organization

Other Support Groups: The other support groups are the contracts and accounting groups (Smythe 2012). These people deal with the overall finance department of the organization and thus have a strong impact on the organization.

The cross cultural issues or problems create major problems in any organization. I have learnt from the presentations and tutorials from my professors that these cross cultural issues or problems are nothing but the several cultural factors arise in the several environments of work. The main problems arise when there is a rift between the regional workplace and the global workplace (Tsourvakas 2015.). In some cases, these types of problems occur when there is an outsourcing in the several regions. The other problems or issues in the work place occur because of the several dilemmas in ethics. These issues even affect the environment of the workplace. I am providing the description of the above mentioned cross cultural factors in the following paragraphs.

Different Work Environments: These types of issues or problems occur due to several and various reasons. The main reasons due to these problems and issues include the religious practices and beliefs, the historical factors (Venkatesh, Thong and Xu 2012). Moreover, the beliefs from the upbringing and overall culture of an individual are also major reasons for these types of problems. The language barrier is another major reason for this type of cross cultural issues.

Global vs Regional Workplaces: From the tutorials given by my professor, I understood that the various regulations and laws are the main reasons for the rift in the global and regional workplaces. Moreover, the various ethical decisions are also responsible for this. These decisions can be different for the global workplace and the regional workplace (Perez-Batres et al. 2012). I have understood that every country has its own culture and cultural values. The views of the individual persons and the roles and the responsibilities of any individual are responsible for the rift in the global and the regional workplaces. The work ethics and the time zone difference are other factors.

Outsourcing in Different Regions: This is one of the major problem in the cross culture. The main reasons for this problem are the ethics with the labor laws, the holiday or the work schedules. Time can be the main problem in this type of cross cultural issues (BEEmsTERBoER 2016). Moreover, I have learnt that the cultural barriers and differences are other important causes for the outsourcing in the different regions.

Codes of Conduct

Ethical Dilemmas: This is again an important reason for the cross cultural issues or problems (Bošnjak and Maruši? 2012). The dilemmas in the ethics and the beliefs for taking the correct decisions are the major causes for the cross cultural issues.

The organizational responsibilities are the most important factor for any information technology professional (Speight 2016). My professor helped me to understand the basic roles and responsibilities that an IT professional have towards his workplace. These responsibilities include the control and management of the workplace and the also the responsibilities towards the clients, colleagues and employers. The main responsibility that an IT professional has towards his workplace or organization is to deliver maximum production to the workplace (Tai and Chuang 2014). I have understood that it is the duty of that individual to know and understand their roles and responsibilities perfectly and execute them properly.

My professor helped me to understand the several and different types of information technology or IT roles in an organization. There are various types of roles. They are as follows:

1. i) Website Developers or App Developers
2. ii) Systems Consultants or Computer Consultants

1. iv) Network Administrators
2. v) Security Consultants
3. vi) IT Support Services

1. ix) Transactional Internet Services
2. x) Cloud Service Providers

I have understood that almost all organizations have the above mentioned roles in their IT department (Perez-Batres et al. 2012).

From the lectures and the tutorials provided by my professor, I have also gained knowledge about the ACS Code of Professional Conduct (Baker 2014). These codes of conduct comprises of six main features. They are as follows:

1. i) The Primacy of the Public Interest
2. ii) The Enhancement of the Quality of Life

Honesty

1. iv) Competence
2. v) Professional Development
3. vi) Professionalism

These above mentioned factors are the major reasons for the codes of conduct in the professional background. These are known as the ACS Codes of Professional conduct (BEEmsTERBoER 2016). My lecturer helped me in understanding this complex chapter easily with his lecture.

The Corporate Social Responsibility or the CSR is the main factor or feature for the initiatives of any corporation or individual for the welfare of the society or the environment. This responsibility is expected to be found in every individual or organization as they are the parts of the society (Hopkins 2012). I got to know that these responsibilities have strong impact on the society. There are six major principles involved in corporate social responsibility. These principles are as follows:

1. i) Purpose: The purpose is to identify the need or the requirement of the corporate social responsibility.
2. ii) Values: The values are the values of the global or the overall social responsibilities.

Method: The method involves the way of the corporate social responsibility is executed.

1. iv) Research: The research section is based on concepts or the empirical.
2. v) Partnership: The partnership involves the collaboration and the involvement with the businesses (Jin, Drozdenko and DeLoughy 2013).
3. vi) Dialog: The communications with the several and the various stakeholders on the problems of the global social responsibility and the sustainability.

These above mentioned factors are the major factors of performing the corporate social responsibility (Luning 2012). My professor has explained this CSR with relevant examples of Virgin Atlantic and British Airways.

Conclusion

Stakeholders

Therefore, from the report given above, I can simply conclude that Ethics are the certain and specific rules and regulations of conduct that are recognized and identified with respect to a specific class of human activities or a specific group or culture. I have learnt from the presentations and tutorials that ethics are the right and the correct thing to be done by social system. We often face several societal or peer disapproval while following ethical ways. However, morals are certain habits or principles with respect to the correct or wrong conducts. According to Professor Kimberly Blackerby, morals can be defined as the procedure of the working of moral with respect to an individual’s principles and ideals. When a person is involved in wrong deeds, I can clearly say that he is morally wrong. From the presentation on information technology ethics and morals, I have learnt the information technology professionals or the IT professionals should be ethically and morally correct in their work place, so that they do not take any wrong route for their success in the organization. The above report describes about the concept of ethics and IT ethics and morals. I have understood clearly that IT ethics is extremely important for the IT sector. The report that I have provided is a reflection of the presentations of Professor Kimberly Blackerby.  The report given by me understand the social impact of information technology and the social responsibility of IT  professionals, critically review the IT profession’s Codes of Ethics and Codes of Conduct, and develop a personal ethical framework, and to understand the role of the IT professional and the legal and moral responsibility they have to that profession and society. Professor Kimberly Blackerby has helped me to clear my doubts and clarifications regarding IT ethics and morals with his presentations.

References

Baker, R., 2014. Codes of conduct. In Handbook of Global Bioethics (pp. 551-579). Springer Netherlands.

BEEmsTERBoER, P.L., 2016. Codes of Ethics. Ethics and Law in Dental Hygiene-E-Book, p.65.

Bošnjak, L. and Maruši?, A., 2012. Prescribed practices of authorship: review of codes of ethics from professional bodies and journal guidelines across disciplines. Scientometrics, 93(3), pp.751-763.

Dolgoff, R., Harrington, D. and Loewenberg, F.M., 2012. Brooks/Cole Empowerment Series: Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. Cengage Learning.

Eshleman, A., 2014. Moral responsibility.

Frankfurt, H.G., 2013. Alternate possibilities and moral responsibility. The Philosophy of Free Will: Essential Readings from the Contemporary Debates, pp.139-148.

Frederickson, H.G. and Rohr, J.A., 2015. Ethics and public administration. Routledge.

Hopkins, M., 2012. The planetary bargain: Corporate social responsibility matters. Routledge.

Jin, K.G., Drozdenko, R. and DeLoughy, S., 2013. The role of corporate value clusters in ethics, social responsibility, and performance: A study of financial professionals and implications for the financial meltdown. Journal of business ethics, 112(1), pp.15-24.

Luning, S., 2012. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for exploration: Consultants, companies and communities in processes of engagements. Resources policy, 37(2), pp.205-211.

Maryniak, I., 2012. Codes of conduct. Index on Censorship, 41(1), pp.85-95.

Otim, S., Dow, K.E., Grover, V. and Wong, J.A., 2012. The impact of information technology investments on downside risk of the firm: alternative measurement of the business value of IT. Journal of Management Information Systems, 29(1), pp.159-194.

Perez-Batres, L.A., Doh, J.P., Miller, V.V. and Pisani, M.J., 2012. Stakeholder pressures as determinants of CSR strategic choice: Why do firms choose symbolic versus substantive self-regulatory codes of conduct?. Journal of business ethics, 110(2), pp.157-172.

Smythe, V., 2012. Codes of ethics. Applied Ethics. Ed. Peter Bowden. Melbourne: Tilde UP, 62.

Speight, J.G., 2016 Codes of Ethics. Ethics in the University, pp.25-47.

Tai, F.M. and Chuang, S.H., 2014. Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), p.117.

Tsourvakas, G., 2015. Codes of Conduct.

Venkatesh, V., Thong, J.Y. and Xu, X., 2012. Consumer acceptance and use of information technology: extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology.